Electronic-device association based on location duration

ABSTRACT

A controller electronic device selectively associates one or more monitoring electronic devices and a viewing electronic device, so that the viewing electronic device can selectively access content acquired by the one or more monitoring electronic devices, such as captured images and/or measured acoustic information corresponding to sound in environments. In particular, the controller electronic device may receive messages with timestamps and current locations of a monitoring electronic device that is associated with the viewing electronic device. Based on a duration of time the monitoring electronic device is at a fixed or an approximately fixed location, the controller electronic device may establish the associations. For example, a maximum distance associated with the associations may increase as the duration of time increases. Alternatively, the controller electronic device may remove the associations when a difference between a current location of the monitoring electronic device and the fixed location exceeds a predefined value.

BACKGROUND

Field

The described embodiments relate to techniques for associatingelectronic devices. In particular, the described embodiments relate totechniques for associating an electronic device with electronic devicesat increasing distances based on a duration the electronic device is ata fixed location.

Related Art

The capabilities of many portable electronic devices continue toincrease. For example, while additional functionality is usuallyincluded in new models of portable electronic devices (such as cellulartelephones), often the additional functionality is included in newversions of an operating system that is executed by the portableelectronic devices. In principle, such software updates allow thecapabilities of a portable electronic device to be routinely increasedover its operating life.

However, the new versions of the operating system typically consumeadditional resources in the portable electronic devices. For example, anew version of the operating system may require more memory andprocessor computational capability. Therefore, the new version of theoperating system may increase power consumption and, thus, may reducebattery life. Consequently, software updates often cause users toconsider older models of portable electronic devices obsolete, which canlead users to replace them with newer models.

While the users may consider the older models of the portable electronicdevices as unsuitable for their original intended purpose, many users donot discard the older models of the portable electronic devices.However, because the resources in the older models of the portableelectronic devices are often unable to support the latest versions ofthe operating system, their remaining capabilities are typically unused,which constitutes a significant waste and an opportunity cost for theusers.

Hence, there is a need for a technique that addresses theabove-described problems.

SUMMARY

A group of embodiments relates to a controller electronic device. Thiscontroller electronic device includes an interface circuit that, duringoperation, communicates with a viewing electronic device that operatesin a viewing mode in an environment, a monitoring electronic deviceassociated with the viewing electronic device that operates in amonitoring mode, and second monitoring electronic devices that operatein the monitoring mode in second environments. Moreover, the controllerelectronic device includes: a memory that stores a program module; and aprocessor that, during operation, executes the program module. Inparticular, during operation, the processor receives messages thatinclude timestamps and current locations of the monitoring electronicdevice. Then, the processor associates the viewing electronic devicewith a subset of the second monitoring electronic devices based on aduration of time that the monitoring electronic device is approximatelyat a fixed location. Note that a size of the subset increases as theduration of time increases, and the associations allow the viewingelectronic device to selectively access content, including acousticinformation corresponding to sound and images for the secondenvironments, from the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices. Furthermore, the processor removes the associations when adifference between a current location of the monitoring electronicdevice and the fixed location exceeds a predefined value.

Moreover, the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices may belocated within a distance from the fixed location, and the distance mayincrease as the duration of time increases. Alternatively oradditionally, the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices maybe located within an adjacency value from the fixed location, and theadjacency value may increase as the duration of time increases.

Furthermore, the processor may receive credentials from the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices, and associating the viewing electronic device and the subset ofthe second monitoring electronic devices may involve providing thecredentials to the viewing electronic device and the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices. Additionally, the processor mayreceive encryption keys from the viewing electronic device and thesubset of the second monitoring electronic devices, and associating theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices may involve providing the encryption keys to theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices. In some embodiments, the processor generates theencryption keys for the viewing electronic device and the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices, and associating the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices may involve providing the encryption keys to the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices.

Moreover, the processor may associate the monitoring electronic devicewith a second viewing electronic device that is associated with one ofthe second monitoring electronic devices. The association between themonitoring electronic device with the second viewing electronic devicemay allow the second viewing electronic device to selectively accesscontent, including images and acoustic information corresponding tosound, for the environment. Furthermore, the processor may receivecredentials from the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device, and associating the monitoring electronic device andthe second viewing electronic device may involve providing thecredentials to the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device. Additionally, the processor may receive encryptionkeys from the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device, and associating the monitoring electronic device andthe second viewing electronic device may involve providing theencryption keys to the monitoring electronic device and the secondviewing electronic device. In some embodiments, the processor generatesthe encryption keys for the monitoring electronic device and the secondviewing electronic devices, and associating the monitoring electronicdevice and the second viewing electronic device involves providing theencryption keys to the monitoring electronic device and the secondviewing electronic device.

Note that, by receiving the messages and associating the viewingelectronic device with the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices, the controller electronic device may establish selective accessto the content when the viewing electronic device is outside ofcommunication range with the subset of the monitoring electronicdevices.

Another embodiment provides a computer-program product for use inconjunction with the electronic device. This computer-program productmay include instructions for at least some of the aforementionedoperations performed by the electronic device.

Another embodiment provides a method for facilitating environmentalmonitoring. This method may include at least some of the aforementionedoperations performed by the electronic device.

The preceding summary is provided as an overview of some exemplaryembodiments and to provide a basic understanding of aspects of thesubject matter described herein. Accordingly, the above-describedfeatures are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowingthe scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way.Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter describedherein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description,Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating electronic devices communicatingin accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for facilitatingenvironmental monitoring in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a drawing illustrating communication among at least some ofthe electronic devices of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a drawing illustrating a user interface in an electronicdevice in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a drawing illustrating an electronic device in FIG. 1 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a drawing illustrating a top view of an electronic device inFIG. 5 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for facilitatingenvironmental monitoring in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a drawing illustrating communication among at least some ofthe electronic devices of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for facilitatingenvironmental monitoring in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a drawing illustrating communication among at least some ofthe electronic devices of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a drawing illustrating association of at least some of theelectronic devices of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for facilitatingenvironmental monitoring in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a drawing illustrating communication among at least some ofthe electronic devices of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a drawing illustrating requesting shared access to contentbetween at least some of the electronic devices of FIG. 1 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device in FIG. 1in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Table 1 provides pseudo-code for use with one of the electronic devicesof FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Table 2 provides pseudo-code for use with one of the electronic devicesof FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Note that like reference numerals refer to corresponding partsthroughout the drawings. Moreover, multiple instances of the same partare designated by a common prefix separated from an instance number by adash.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In a group of embodiments, a controller electronic device selectivelyassociates one or more monitoring electronic devices and a viewingelectronic device, so that the viewing electronic device can selectivelyaccess content acquired by the one or more monitoring electronicdevices, such as captured images and/or measured acoustic informationcorresponding to sound in environments. In particular, the controllerelectronic device may receive messages with timestamps and currentlocations of a monitoring electronic device that is associated with themonitoring electronic device. Based on a duration of time the monitoringelectronic device is at a fixed or an approximately fixed location, thecontroller electronic device may establish associations between theviewing electronic device and the one or more monitoring electronicdevices. For example, the number of associations and/or a maximumdistance associated with the associations may increase as the durationof time increases. Alternatively, the controller electronic device mayremove the associations when a difference between a current location ofthe monitoring electronic device and the fixed location exceeds apredefined value.

By dynamically expanding the spatial extent of the associations thelonger the monitoring electronic device remains at the fixed or theapproximately fixed location, this association technique may allow anetwork of monitoring electronic devices to be built or assembled overtime. In particular, the controller electronic device may associate theviewing electronic device with a group of monitoring electronic devicescovering an area of increasing spatial extent, while reducing thelikelihood that unsuitable parties will gain access to shared content,such as the captured images and/or the measured acoustic information inthe environments. Therefore, the controller electronic device may enablea dynamic network of monitoring electronic devices, such as a dynamicneighborhood watch. In the process, the controller electronic device mayallow users to avoid waste and the opportunity cost of unused legacyelectronic devices, which may increase user satisfaction.

Communication between electronic devices (such as the monitoringelectronic devices, the viewing electronic devices and/or the controllerelectronic device) may utilize wired, optical and/or wirelesscommunication. For example, the wireless communication may involvecommunicating packets or frames that are transmitted and received byradios in the electronic devices in accordance with a communicationprotocol, such as: Bluetooth® (from the Bluetooth Special Interest Groupof Kirkland, Wash.), an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.15 standard (such as ZigBee® from the ZigBee®Alliance of San Ramon, Calif.), an Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, Z-Wave, a power-linecommunication standard, an infra-red communication standard, a universalserial bus (USB) communication standard, a near-field-communicationstandard or specification (from the NFC Forum of Wakefield, Mass.),another wireless ad-hoc network standard, and/or another type ofwireless interface. In some embodiments, the communication protocol maybe compatible with a 2^(nd) generation or mobile telecommunicationtechnology, a 3^(rd) generation of mobile telecommunications technology(such as a communication protocol that complies with the InternationalMobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the InternationalTelecommunication Union of Geneva, Switzerland), a 4^(rd) generation ofmobile telecommunications technology (such as a communication protocolthat complies with the International Mobile Telecommunications Advancedspecification by the International Telecommunication Union of Geneva,Switzerland), and/or another cellular-telephone communication technique.For example, the communication protocol may include Long Term Evolutionor LTE. In addition, the communication may occur via a wide variety offrequency bands, including frequencies associated with the so-called‘white space’ in frequencies bands associated with analog televisionbroadcasting.

The communication between the electronic devices is shown in FIG. 1,which presents a block diagram illustrating communication among optionalbase station 108, monitoring electronic devices 110, viewing electronicdevices 112, optional access point 114, one or more optional storageelectronic devices (such as optional storage electronic device 116),and/or one or more controller electronic devices (such as controllerelectronic device 118) via network 120 (such as a cellular-telephonenetwork, the Internet, a wireless local area network, an Ethernetnetwork, an intra-net, an optical network, etc.). In particular, thecommunication in FIG. 1 may involve the exchange of packets. Thesepackets may be included in frames in one or more channels.

Moreover, as described further below with reference to FIG. 15,monitoring electronic devices 110, viewing electronic devices 112,optional access point 114, optional storage electronic device 116,and/or controller electronic device 118 may include subsystems, such as:a networking subsystem, a memory subsystem, a processing subsystem, anoptional user-interface subsystem, and an optional sensor subsystem. Inaddition, these electronic devices may include radios 122 in thenetworking subsystems. More generally, monitoring electronic devices110, viewing electronic devices 112, optional access point 114, optionalstorage electronic device 116, and/or controller electronic device 118can include (or can be included within) any electronic devices withnetworking subsystems that enable wirelessly or wired communication withanother electronic device. This can comprise transmitting frames onwireless channels to enable the electronic devices to make initialcontact, followed by exchanging subsequent data/management frames (suchas connect requests or petitions to establish a connection or link),configuring security options (e.g., encryption on a link or in a meshnetwork), transmitting and receiving packets or frames, etc.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, wireless signals 124 (represented by jaggedlines) are transmitted from/received by radios (such as radios 122) inoptional base station 108, monitoring electronic devices 110, viewingelectronic devices 112 and/or optional access point 114 (which may allowmonitoring electronic device 110-2 and/or viewing electronic device112-3 to wirelessly access network 120 via a wireless local areanetwork). In general, wireless communication among these electronicdevices may or may not involve a connection being established among theelectronic devices, and therefore may or may not involve communicationvia a wireless network. (Note that the communication with optionalstorage electronic device 116, and/or controller electronic device 118may occur via network 120, which may involve wired or opticalcommunication with a different communication protocol than wirelesssignals 124.)

Furthermore, the processing of a packet or frame in an electronic device(such as monitoring electronic device 110-1) may include: receivingwireless signals 124 with the packet or frame; decoding/extracting thepacket or frame from received wireless signals 124 to acquire the packetor frame; and processing the packet or frame to determine informationcontained in the packet or frame (such as at least a portion of a datapacket).

As described further below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, monitoringelectronic devices 110 and viewing electronic devices 112 may bearranged into at least pairs. For example, one of viewing electronicdevices 112 (such as viewing electronic device 112-1) may be paired withor associated with one or more of monitoring electronic devices 110(such as monitoring electronic device 110-1). In particular, a givenuser may own or may be associated with a given pairing. Moreover,monitoring electronic devices 110 and viewing electronic devices 112 mayexecute instances of a program module. This program module may allowmonitoring electronic devices 110 and viewing electronic devices 112 tobe operated in a monitoring mode or a viewing mode. When an electronicdevice executing an instance of the program module is operated in themonitoring mode, it is referred to as a ‘monitoring electronic device’(such as one of monitoring electronic devices 110). Similarly, when anelectronic device executing an instance of the program module isoperated in the viewing mode, it is referred to as a ‘viewing electronicdevice’ (such as one of viewing electronic devices 112). Note that auser may select the monitoring mode or the viewing mode for a givenelectronic device (e.g., using a user interface, as described furtherbelow with reference to FIG. 4). Alternatively, the given electronicdevice may select the monitoring mode or the viewing mode based on itslocation (such as whether it is at the same location for an extendedtime interval, e.g., several hours, one or more days, etc.).

As described further below with reference to FIG. 6, in the monitoringmode a given one of monitoring electronic devices 110 (such asmonitoring electronic device 110-1) may monitor an environment thatincludes monitoring electronic device 110-1 or that is proximate to theenvironment that includes monitoring electronic device 110-1 (which issometimes referred to as an ‘external environment’). For example,monitoring electronic device 110-1 may monitor the environment within abuilding (such as a region, a room, etc.), an object (such as a car, atruck, a container, a package, etc.), etc. Alternatively oradditionally, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may monitor theexternal environment outside of the building (such as a region adjacentto the building, the outside of the building, etc.), the object, etc. Inan exemplary embodiment, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may includeat least two imaging sensors (such as two cameras), one of whichmonitors an interior of an environment (such as a room in a house) andthe other monitors a region outside of the environment (such as a regionoutside of a house). Thus, at least the two imaging sensors may havedifferent fields of view.

When monitoring the environment and/or the external environment,monitoring electronic devices 110 may include sensors that at leastselectively capture images and/or measure acoustic informationcorresponding to sound that characterize events (and, more generally,conditions, such as environmental conditions, e.g., temperature,humidity, air quality, etc.). For example, an acoustic sensor (such as amicrophone) in monitoring electronic device 110-1 may detect an acousticevent, such as: insertion of a key into a lock, a sound exceeding athreshold level (e.g., 60-80 dB), a type of sound (e.g., a fire alarm,breaking glass, a moving car, yelling or shouting, cursing, a cry forhelp, a gunshot, etc.) and/or activation of acoustic sources in theenvironment having a predefined or a predetermined phase relationship(e.g., smoke and/or carbon-monoxide detectors at different locations ina building, which have different acoustic latencies to a location ofmonitoring electronic device 110-1. In response, monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 may capture the images and measure the acoustic informationcorresponding to or that represents sound. (While images and/or acousticinformation are used as illustrations of the type of informationselectively captured or measured by monitoring electronic devices 110,in some embodiments additional types of measures are performed by atleast some of monitoring electronic devices 110 when these monitoringelectronic devices include additional sensors.)

Alternatively or additionally, monitoring electronic device 110-1 maydetect motion in the environment and/or the external environment (e.g.,using a motion detector and/or by comparing images acquired at differenttimes using an imaging sensor), and in response monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 may capture additional images and/or may measure theacoustic information. In some embodiments, an occurrence of an event isdetermined based on a history of events for an environment and/or theexternal environment, such as by comparing the measured acousticinformation with a history of acoustic events and/or by comparing acaptured image (or difference of two images) with historical motionevents to determine if something anomalous or usual is occurring.

In some embodiments, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may at leastselectively capture the images and measure the acoustic informationbased on an alert about an occurrence of an event in the environmentthat is received from a governmental organization. For example, amunicipality (such as a city government) or a police department mayprovide the alert in response to a burglary or criminal activity nearby,and in response monitoring electronic device 110-1 may captures imagesand/or acoustic information. This content may be subsequently shared orprovided to the governmental organization.

As described further below with reference to FIG. 5, when an eventoccurs, a rotatable base may change an angular orientation during theselective capture of the images and measurement of the acousticinformation. For example, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may analyzethe measured acoustic information from multiple microphones (or acoustictransducers) to determine a location of a source or to track movement ofthe source, and then, via the rotatable base, may change the angularorientation so that the imaging sensor faces the source or keeps thesource centered in a field of view of the imaging sensor (which mayinvolve dynamically rotating the rotatable base to follow the motion ofthe source). Alternatively or additionally, a voice or sound recognitiontechnique may be used to identify a particular source (such as a person)in a crowded acoustic environment and, then, monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 may be rotated to follow this source as it moves in theenvironment.

After capturing the images and/or measuring the acoustic information,monitoring electronic device 110-1 may compute analysis results based onthe captured images and/or the measured acoustic information. Theanalysis results may indicate safety conditions, activities,environmental conditions and, more generally, events in the environmentand/or the external environment. For example, by analyzing the capturedimages and/or the measured acoustic information monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 may determine the presence of: activation of an alarm (suchas a smoke detector, a carbon-monoxide detector, a dual smoke detectorand carbon-monoxide detector, a car alarm, a burglar alarm and/oranother alarm), fire, flooding, carbon monoxide, a power outage, achemical contaminant, an infestation, opening of a door, an individualentering or leaving a room, an individual getting out of bed, anindividual waking up, an individual crying, an individual tossing andturning in bed, an individual shivering, a change in health condition ofan individual (such as an illness, a chronic disease, etc.), a crime inprogress, unusual activity or other irregular occurrences (such as aunusual vehicle driving down the street), delivery of the mail or apackage, etc.

In an exemplary embodiment, monitoring electronic device 110-1 detectsan audible acoustic alert or alarm based on sound intensity, time-domaininformation and/or or frequency-domain information in temporal audiosamples of the sound received by a microphone. For example, the soundmay include a temporal 3 acoustic pattern, with a beep, pause and analarm pattern or signal, which is compatible with an American NationalStandards Institute standard S3.42 1990. In order to facilitate thiscapability, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may be calibrated to:confirm that the alarm can be heard or detected by monitoring electronicdevice 110-1, identify the alarm device (such as a smoke detector),determine the location of the alarm device, and/or determine an acousticcharacteristic of the environment (e.g., based on sound output bymonitoring electronic device 110-1 and/or from another acoustic source).This calibration may occur when: monitoring electronic device 110-1 isfirst installed or used, after a time interval (such as every 3 or 6months) and/or when the environment is changed (such as when one or moreobjects in the environment are moved, when monitoring electronic device110-1 is moved, etc.). Note that the acoustic characteristic mayinclude: a location of the alarm device (such as a location of the alarmdevice relative to monitoring electronic device 110-1); a detectionthreshold for monitoring electronic device 110-1 at its current locationto use when determining if the alarm device is activated; and/or anacoustic transfer function (such as an amplitude and/or phase as afunction of frequency) or an acoustic profile (such as an acousticlatency or a delay of an echo) of the environment proximate to the alarmdevice and monitoring electronic device 110-1. Moreover, the location ofthe alarm device may be specified by or determined from: an image of theenvironment, a positioning system (such as the Global Positioning Systemor GPS), a communication network (such as a cellular-telephone network),and/or an acoustic latency in the environment. In some embodiments, thelocation is determined by trilateration, triangulation, and/or theacoustic characteristic of the environment. For example, the locationmay be determined using multiple microphones. Thus, the location may beabsolute or relative (such as a position in the environment relative tomonitoring electronic device 110-1).

Once a given monitoring electronic device (such as monitoring electronicdevice 110-1) has captured the images and/or measured the acousticinformation, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may share this content(as well as analysis results) with one or more of the other electronicdevices in FIG. 1. For example, monitoring electronic device 110-1 mayprovide the content or an alert or notification indicating that suchcontent is available to at least viewing electronic device 112-1 (i.e.,one or more other electronic devices with which monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 is paired). In some embodiments, monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 and at least viewing electronic device 112-1 have orestablish a peer-to-peer connection, which allows them to communicatevia peer-to-peer communication. Note that the peer-to-peer connectionmay allow one-to-one or one-to-many communication (such as with a groupof paired or associated electronic devices).

In response to receiving the content or the alert, viewing electronicdevice 112-1 may access and then may display at least some of the imagesand/or may output the sound, thereby allowing a user to remotely monitorthe event(s) in the environment and/or the external environment.Alternatively, viewing electronic device 112-1 may present the alert tothe user, which may allow the user to decide whether to selectivelyaccess the content. For example, the alert may be presented to the userin a user interface. This user interface may include or specify anotification about the environmental and/or the external environment,such as an alarm sounding, and may include one or more icons that allowthe individual to: listen to an audio recording of the measured soundsassociated with an event, contact emergency services, and/or indicatethat the event is a false positive.

Furthermore, as described further below, monitoring electronic device110-1 may share the content and/or the alert with one or more additionalviewing electronic devices in viewing electronic device 112 that arepaired or associated with monitoring electronic device 110-1, and thatare used by other users. For example, the other users may include: anemergency contact specified by a user or an owner of viewing electronicdevice 112-1; users that the user or the owner of viewing electronicdevice 112-1 has allowed to access the content and/or the alert;representatives of an insurance company (who may provide a discount onthe user's homeowner's insurance in exchange for the monitoring); and/oran owner of a building that includes the environment. In someembodiments, monitoring electronic device 110-1 provides the contentand/or the alert to optional storage electronic device 116, where it maybe subsequently accessed by viewing electronic device 112-1 and/or theone or more additional viewing electronic devices. In some embodiments,optional storage electronic device 116 stores the content in a secure,certified historical record or log of the conditions of the environmentand/or the external environment (such as a time record of the safetyconditions, the activities, the environmental conditions and, moregenerally, the events). Note that optional storage electronic device 116may analyze the content, and thus may store and provide analysis resultsto viewing electronic device 112-1 and/or the one or more additionalviewing electronic devices.

Moreover, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may restrict the type ofcontent that is shared with the one or more additional viewingelectronic devices. For example, monitoring electronic device 110-1 mayonly share content (such as images and/or acoustic information) for theexternal environment with the one or more additional viewing electronicdevices. In particular, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may includean orientation sensor that allows monitoring electronic device 110-1 todetermine an orientation of monitoring electronic device 110-1, so thatmonitoring electronic device 110-1 can identify and only share images ofthe external environment with the one or more additional viewingelectronic devices, thereby enabling collective monitoring (such as avirtual ‘neighborhood watch’) of a street or an outside region bymultiple users, while protecting the privacy of the users.

Furthermore, the content provided by monitoring electronic device 110-1and/or optional storage electronic device 116 may be protected. This mayinvolve encryption using an encryption key (such as an encryption keyassociated with monitoring electronic device 110-1). The encryption keymay use symmetric or asymmetric encryption techniques. Alternatively oradditionally, a secure or one-way cryptographic hash function (such asSHA-256) may be used. As described further below with reference to FIGS.7-14, when associations are established between at least pairs ofmonitoring electronic devices 110 and viewing electronic devices 112,credentials used to access content, encryption keys and/or informationspecifying cryptographic hash functions may be exchanged to facilitatecontrolled and secure sharing of the content.

In an exemplary embodiment, monitoring electronic devices 110 andviewing electronic devices 112 are cellular telephones. At leastmonitoring electronic devices 110 may be one or more ‘older’ models(i.e., legacy electronic devices). In particular, monitoring electronicdevices 110 and/or viewing electronic devices 112 may execute one ormore older or previous versions of operating systems that current orlatest versions of the one or more operating systems. This may be thecase because a current or latest version of an operating system mayexceed the hardware capabilities of monitoring electronic devices 110and/or viewing electronic devices 112. For example, when monitoringelectronic devices 110 and/or viewing electronic devices 112 execute thecurrent or latest version of the operating system: an operating life ofa power source (such as a battery) may be less than a predefined value(such as several hours); an execution speed of a program module may beless than a second predefined value (e.g., there may be delays of 0.5-10s that are noticeable to the user or that may prevent events from beingcaptured); an amount of the memory available to the program module maybe less than a third predefined value (such as the minimum of amount ofmemory needed to execute the program module); and/or an amount ofnon-volatile storage available to the program module may be less than afourth predefined value (such as the minimum of amount of non-volatilestorage to store the content).

The program module may include features that allow monitoring electronicdevices 110 and/or viewing electronic devices 112 to be repurposed toperform the preceding operations. For example, in the monitoring mode,the program module may disable one or more features of monitoringelectronic devices 110 to conserve system resources, such as processorspeed, memory, battery life, etc. Alternatively or additionally,monitoring electronic devices 110 may adjust an exposure time of one ormore imaging sensors based on one of: a time of day, ambient lightingconditions and a quality metric for the images (such as signal-to-noiseratio).

As described further below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, when theprogram module determines that a power supply in a given monitoringelectronic device (such as monitoring electronic device 110-1) providespower from an external power source (such as an AC power socket), theprogram module may ensure that monitoring electronic device 110-1remains in the monitoring mode and does not transitions to apower-saving mode when monitoring electronic device 110-1 is inactive.For example, the program mode may disable a timer in monitoringelectronic device 110-1 that is used to transition monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 to the power-saving mode. Alternatively, when the powersupply provides power from an internal power source (such as a battery),the program module may selectively provide an activity signal that keepsmonitoring electronic device 110-1 remains in the monitoring mode anddoes not transitions to a power-saving mode when monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 is inactive. This capability may ensure that monitoringelectronic device 110-1 continues to monitor the environment and/or theexternal environment. (However, in some embodiments, when the powersupply provides power from the internal power source, the program modulemay selectively allow, based on a configuration setting, monitoringelectronic device 110-1 to transition to the power-saving mode whenmonitoring electronic device 110-1 is inactive and to transition back tothe monitoring mode when the acoustic event occurs.)

Note that the program module may receive a proof-of-life request fromanother electronic device (such as one of viewing electronic devices112) and may provide a response to the proof-of-life request. Theresponse may indicate that monitoring electronic device 110-1 remains inthe monitoring mode and has power. For example, an insurance carrier(that provides insurance coverage for the environment or one or moreobjects in the environment) may provide one or more requests (e.g.,periodically, after a time interval, randomly and/or as needed) toconfirm that monitoring electronic device 110-1 is monitoring theenvironment and/or the external environment.

Moreover, as noted previously, monitoring electronic devices 110 may beassociated or paired with additional viewing electronic devices. Inparticular, users may register their monitoring electronic devices andviewing electronic devices with one or more controller electronicdevices, such as controller electronic device 118. For example, theregistration may occur when a user installs the program module on anelectronic device. During registration, the user may define a minimalpairing or association, such as a designated monitoring electronicdevice and its associated viewing electronic device (e.g., monitoringelectronic device 110-1 and viewing electronic device 112-1). Moreover,credentials, encryption keys and/or secure hash functions may bespecified and/or exchanged between monitoring electronic device 110-1and viewing electronic device 112-1 when the pairing or association isdefined, and the credentials, the encryption keys and/or the secure hashfunctions may be specified or provided to controller electronic device118. Alternatively or additionally, controller electronic device 118 mayspecify or provide the credentials, the encryption keys and/or thesecure hash functions to monitoring electronic device 110-1 and viewingelectronic device 112-1. In some embodiments, controller electronicdevice 118 generates the encryption keys for monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 and viewing electronic device 112-1.

As described further below with reference to FIGS. 9-11, subsequentlycontroller electronic device 118 may keep track of the locations ofmonitoring electronic devices 110 as a function of time. For example,monitoring electronic device 110-1 may provide to controller electronicdevice 118 messages with times stamps and information that specifies thelocation of monitoring electronic device 110-1 (such as a GPSinformation or coordinates, cellular-telephone information,wireless-network information, etc.). These messages may be provided bymonitoring electronic device 110-1 periodically, after a time intervalat a fixed location and/or in response to a request from controllerelectronic device 118.

If controller electronic device 118 determines, based on the locationinformation, that monitoring electronic device 110-1 is or isapproximately at a fixed location (e.g., the location of monitoringelectronic device 110-1 remains within 1-100 m of a previous locationfor at least 1-72 hours), controller electronic device 118 may associateviewing electronic device 112-1 with one or more additional monitoringelectronic devices that are proximate to monitoring electronic device110-1 (including providing or specifying credentials, encryption keysand/or secure hash functions). This may allow a user of viewingelectronic device 112-1 to selectively access content acquired by theone or more additional monitoring electronic devices, such as imagesand/or acoustic information corresponding to sound in at least externalenvironments that are proximate to the one or more additional monitoringelectronic devices (and, if allowed during registration by users of theone or more additional monitoring electronic devices, images and/oracoustic information corresponding to sound in environments that includethe one or more additional monitoring electronic devices). For example,the spatial extent of the associations may increase the longermonitoring electronic device 110-1 is at the fixed location. Thus, aftera day viewing electronic device 112-1 may be associated with additionalmonitoring electronic devices of the nearest neighbors (or those thatare within 50 m), after two days viewing electronic device 112-1 may beassociated with additional monitoring electronic devices of secondnearest neighbors (or those that are within 100 m), etc. Similarly,controller electronic device 118 may associate monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 with one or more additional viewing electronic devices thatare already associated or paired with the one or more additionalmonitoring electronic devices, so that users of the one or moreadditional viewing electronic devices can selectively access contentacquired by monitoring electronic device 110-1.

Furthermore, if monitoring electronic device 110-1 is moved from thefixed location (such as the location of monitoring electronic device110-1 is more than 1-100 m from a previous location of monitoringelectronic device 110-1), controller electronic device 118 maydiscontinue the associations with the one or more additional monitoringelectronic devices.

This association technique may allow networks of electronic devices tobe securely and dynamically assembled even when monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 and/or viewing electronic device 112-1 are outside ofcommunication range (such as wireless communication range) with the oneor more additional monitoring electronic devices.

Alternatively or additionally, as described further below with referenceto FIGS. 12-14, networks of electronic devices may be securely anddynamically assembled based on the pattern of locations of viewingelectronic device 112-1 as a function of time. In particular, viewingelectronic device 112-1 may receive messages from another electronicdevice that executes an instance of the program module, such as one ofmonitoring electronic devices 110 (e.g., monitoring electronic device110-2) or one of viewing electronic devices 112. These messages mayadvertise availability of content for an environment at a locationassociated with monitoring electronic device 110-2. In response, viewingelectronic device 112-1 determines whether to request shared access tothe content based on the location and locations of one or more ofmonitoring electronic devices 110 executing additional instances of theprogram module in a monitoring mode for which viewing electronic device112-1 already has shared access. For example, the location may bedifferent from the locations. Moreover, viewing electronic device 112-1may determine whether to request shared access to the content based on ahistory of locations of viewing electronic device 112-1, which mayindicate that viewing electronic device 112-1 was proximate to thelocation for more than: a predefined number of occasions (such as atleast 2-10 times); and/or a predefined time duration (such as at least5-60 min). Next, viewing electronic device 112-1 may provide a requestfor shared access to monitoring electronic device 110-2 based on thedetermination. Furthermore, viewing electronic device 112-1 may receivean acceptance message from monitoring electronic device 110-2 inresponse to the request, and viewing electronic device 112-1 mayselectively accesses the content based on the acceptance message.

Similarly, once paired or associated, monitoring electronic device 110-1(or another monitoring electronic device previously paired or associatedwith viewing electronic device 112-1) may share access to content itacquires with viewing electronic device 112-2.

Thus, viewing electronic device 112-1 may pair or associate withmonitoring electronic device 110-2 based on regular proximity to thelocation of monitoring electronic device 110-2 (or, alternatively oradditionally, of viewing electronic device 112-2). In particular, as theuser moves around with viewing electronic device 112-1, theirinformation network may be dynamically increased.

In these ways, monitoring electronic devices 110, viewing electronicdevices 112, optional storage electronic device 116, and/or controllerelectronic device 118 may be used to: implement an information networkthat monitors the environments and/or the external environments; and/oraggregate and selectively disseminate content about events in theenvironments and/or the external environments.

Although we describe the environment shown in FIG. 1 as an example, inalternative embodiments, different numbers or types of electronicdevices may be present. For example, some embodiments comprise more orfewer electronic devices.

We now further describe the environmental monitoring and the associationtechniques. FIG. 2 presents a flow diagram illustrating a method 200 forfacilitating environmental monitoring, which may be performed by anelectronic device (such as one of monitoring electronic devices 110 orone of viewing electronic devices 112 in FIG. 1). During operation, theelectronic device sets an operating mode (operation 210) of theelectronic device as a monitoring mode or a viewing mode. For example,the electronic device may execute a version of an operating system thatis other than or different from a subsequent version of the operatingsystem (i.e., an older version of the operating system). This may occurbecause the electronic device may be an older model and hardwarelimitations (such as an operating life of a power source, an executionspeed of a program module, available memory when executing thesubsequent version of the operating system, an amount of non-volatilestorage available to the program module when executing the subsequentversion of the operating system, etc.) may restrict its ability toexecute the subsequent or newer version of the operating system.

When the electronic device is in the monitoring mode (operation 212),the electronic device at least selectively captures images and measuresacoustic information (operation 214) corresponding to sound of anenvironment that includes the electronic device, and communicates theimages and the acoustic information (operation 216) to a secondelectronic device (such as a paired or associated viewing electronicdevice or a storage electronic device). For example, the images may becaptured and the acoustic information may be measured based on theoccurrence of an event, such as an acoustic event. In particular, theacoustic event may include: insertion of a key into a lock; a soundexceeding a threshold level; a type of sound; and/or activation ofacoustic sources in the environment having a predetermined phaserelationship (such as a latency of sound associated with the acousticsources). The electronic device may determine whether to capture theimages and to measure the acoustic information based on the occurrenceof the acoustic event and a history of acoustic events in theenvironment (e.g., by comparing the acoustic event with the history ofacoustic events to determine if it is anomalous).

Alternatively or additionally, using hardware (such as a motion sensor)and/or software, the electronic device may detect motion in theenvironment, and the selective capturing of the images and measuring theacoustic information may be based on the detection of motion and ahistory of motion events in the environment (which may be used todetermine if the detected motion is anomalous or unusual). For example,the electronic device may routinely capture images (such as every 10 s),and may detect motion based on differences between captured images.Then, when motion is detected, the electronic device may capture imagesmore often (such as at a frame rate of an imaging sensor).

Note that the electronic device may use histories of events at one ormore locations (i.e., from one or more monitoring electronic devices)when determining whether a particular event is anomalous or unusual(and, thus, worth of being presented to a user on an associated orpaired viewing electronic device).

In some embodiments, the at least selectively capturing the images andmeasuring the acoustic information, and communicating the images and theacoustic information to the second electronic device may be based on analert about an occurrence of an event in the environment (such aspossible criminal activity, a natural disaster, an emergency, etc.) thatis received from a governmental organization (such as a policedepartment, a fire department, local government, e.g., a municipality,etc.) or an insurance carrier.

Note that, when the electronic device is in the monitoring mode, theelectronic device may perform one or more optional operations (operation218). For example, the electronic device may receive a proof-of-liferequest from the second electronic device, and may provide a response tothe proof-of-life request. This response may indicate that theelectronic device remains in the monitoring mode and has power.

Alternatively or additionally, when the electronic device is in themonitoring mode, the electronic device may disable one or more otherfunctions of the electronic device. For example, functions other thanthose needed to perform the monitoring and to communicate the contentmay be disabled.

In some embodiments, when the electronic device is in the monitoringmode, the electronic device adjusts an exposure time of the imagingsensor based on: a time of day, ambient lighting conditions and/or aquality metric for the images. For example, the exposure time may beincreased at times of day when there is less light, when the ambientlighting is below a threshold value (such as an illumination of lessthan 10-100 lux or lumens/m²), and/or when a signal-to-noise ratio inthe images is less than a second threshold value (such as 20-30 dB).

Alternatively, when the electronic device is in the viewing mode(operation 212), the electronic device at least selectively receivesvisual information (such as images, text, graphics, etc.) and additionalacoustic information (operation 220) from the second electronic device,presents the visual information (operation 222) on the display, andoutputs additional sound (operation 222) corresponding to the additionalacoustic information using the acoustic transducer. Furthermore, whenthe electronic device is in the viewing mode, the electronic device mayperform one or more optional operations (operation 224). For example,the electronic device may establish a peer-to-peer connection with thesecond electronic device.

In some embodiments, the second electronic device includes cloud-basedstorage for a third electronic device that monitors another environment(such as a data repository for the other environment that maintains arecord of all events that occur in the other environment). Thus, whenthe electronic device is in the viewing mode, it may selectively accessthe visual information and the additional audio information from thecloud-based storage. Alternatively, when the electronic device is in themonitoring mode, it may provide the images and the acoustic informationto the cloud-based storage, where it is subsequently selectivelyaccessed by the third electronic device.

While the electronic device may selectively access content (such asimages and/or audio information) for an environment based on events thatoccur in or proximate to the environment, in some embodiments theselective access is based on a location of the environment. For example,the electronic device may selectively access the content based oninterests of a user. These interests may be predefined by the user (suchas in a user profile) and/or may be based on user behaviors (such as webpages or websites visited by the user, search queries provided by theuser, products purchased by the user, etc.). In some embodiments, theelectronic device selectively access the content for the user (i.e.,without an explicit request from the user). Thus, if the user isconsidering a vacation at the location, the electronic device mayselectively access content from monitoring electronic devices at orproximate to the location. Alternatively or additionally, the user canaccess live streams via a network (such as the Internet), such as a webcamera for Lake Tahoe or a volcano. Such web-camera access may be usedas marketing lead information for travel services that market travel andlodging to or near a location that the user views repeatedly.

Embodiments of the communication technique are further illustrated inFIG. 3, which presents a drawing illustrating communication betweenmonitoring electronic device 110-1 and viewing electronic device 112-1.In particular, processor 310 executing an instance of a program modulein viewing electronic device 112-1 may display user interface 316 ondisplay 318 based on user-interface information 314, which is accessedin memory 312. Moreover, processor 310 may receive a user-interfaceselection 320 (such as when the user clicks on or touches an icon inuser interface 316) to select a particular operating mode of viewingelectronic device 112-1 (i.e., the viewing mode). Similarly, processor322 executing another instance of the program module in monitoringelectronic device 110-1 may display user interface 328 on display 330based on user-interface information 324, which is accessed in memory326. Furthermore, processor 322 may receive a user-interface selection332 (such as when the user clicks on or touches an icon in userinterface 328) to select a particular operating mode of monitoringelectronic device 110-1 (i.e., the monitoring mode). In someembodiments, either or both the operating modes are predefined, e.g.,based on settings stored in memories 312 and 326.

Subsequently, sensor(s) 334 in monitoring electronic device 110-1 maycapture content 336 (such as one or more images and/or audio informationcorresponding to sound). For example, content 336 may be captured whenan event occurs, such as a loud sound or motion is detected.Alternatively or additionally, content 336 may be captured based on analert or a notification received from a third party, such as aninsurance carrier or a governmental organization. Sensor(s) 334 mayprovide content 336 to processor 322, which provides it to interfacecircuit 338. Then, interface circuit 338 may communicate content 336 tointerface circuit 340, which provides it to processor 322. Next,processor 310 may present content 336 on display 310 and/or speakers(not shown).

In these ways, the environmental monitoring technique may allowelectronic devices (including legacy electronic devices) to bedynamically repurposed for use in monitoring the environment and/orpresenting images and/or audio information to users. Consequently, theimproved functionality and services facilitated by the environmentalmonitoring technique may increase the use of the electronic devices(and, more generally, commercial activity) and may enhance customersatisfaction with the electronic device. Note that paired or associatedelectronic devices (such as a monitoring electronic device and a viewingelectronic device) may reverse roles, thereby allowing two-waymonitoring of different environments.

As discussed previously, a user may select an operating mode of anelectronic device using a user interface. This is shown in FIG. 4, whichpresents a drawing illustrating a user interface 400 in an electronicdevice in FIG. 1 (such as a user's cellular telephone). In particular,user interface 400 may be presented on a touch-sensitive display and mayinclude virtual command icons 410 that correspond to the monitoring modeand the viewing mode. By contacting a surface of the touch-sensitivedisplay within a virtual strike area of a given virtual command icon(such as virtual command icon 410-1) and/or subsequently breakingcontact with the surface, the user may activate the given virtualcommand icon and, thus, may select one of the operating modes.

Note that user interface 400 may be generated by a program moduleexecuting on the electronic device based on user-interface information.

In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a rotatable base.This is illustrated in FIG. 5, which presents a drawing illustratingelectronic device 500 (such as one of the electronic devices in FIG. 1).During the selective capture of the images and measurement of theacoustic information, rotatable base 510 may change an angularorientation 512 of electronic device 500 in the environment. Forexample, rotatable base 510 may rotate electronic device 500 about anaxis 514 so that electronic device 500 tracks sound or a moving objectin the environment. In this way, sensor(s), such as an imaging sensor,in electronic device 500 may keep an object of interest centered in itsfield of view.

Alternatively, a rotatable base 510 may rotate electronic device 500about an axis 514 so that the electronic device 500 sweeps an area inresponse to a sound or detected motion (e.g., if the sound or motion iscomplicated or difficult to track, the rotatable base 510 can performone or more sweeps with the field of view of a sensor, such as animaging sensor in the electronic device 500, in order to have a betterchance of capturing video of the source of the sound). Note that thesweep can be left and right, up or down, or any other suitablecombination, can vary from −90° to +90°, and/or can be performedmultiple times in response to a triggering event (such as motion or asound above a threshold).

Additionally, the electronic device may include multiple imaging sensorswith different fields of view, such as on opposite sides of theelectronic device. This is illustrated in FIG. 6, which presents adrawing illustrating a top view of electronic device 500 (such as one ofthe electronic devices in FIG. 1) with imaging sensors 610. Whileselectively capturing the images, electronic device 500 may switchbetween imaging sensor 610-1 and imaging sensor 610-2 based on motion inthe environment and the measured acoustic information. In this way,electronic device 500 may track an object of interest in the environmentso one of imaging sensors 610 has the object in its field of view at aparticular time.

In some embodiments, electronic device 500 includes an orientationsensor 612 (such as a compass, an accelerometer, etc.) that, duringoperation, determines an orientation of electronic device 500. Moreover,imaging sensor 610-1 may face an interior of a building or a room, whileimaging sensor 610-2 may face an external environment (such as theexterior of the building or room). Note that images acquired usingimaging sensor 610-1 may include sensitive or personal information abouta user.

Consequently, electronic device 500 may use the determined orientationto identify images acquired or captured using imaging sensor 610-2, andmay provide authorization to at least selectively access these images toone or more additional electronic devices, such as an electronic deviceexecuting an instance of the program module in the viewing mode. Forexample, the authorization may include credentials and/or an encryptionkey that facilitates the selective access. In some embodiments, theauthorization is provided to one or more additional electronic devicesthat are paired or associated with electronic device 500. However, inother embodiments, the images captured by imaging sensor 610-2 areconsidered public and, therefore, may be shared with one or moreadditional electronic devices that are not associated or paired withelectronic device 500. Thus, the user may be willing to share imagesacquired using imaging sensor 610-2 with arbitrary users (such as theirneighbors), but may not be willing to share images acquired usingimaging sensor 610-1 with these users. (In some embodiments the user iswilling to share video acquired using imaging sensor 610-2, but is onlywilling to share still images acquired using imaging sensor 610-1.)

In this way, a virtual ‘neighborhood watch’ may be assembled to allowactivities on a street or in a neighborhood to be monitored. Forexample, by combining the acquired content with the locations ofmonitoring electronic devices (such as GPS coordinates) in aneighborhood, it may be possible to track events in real time and/orafter the fact.

In an exemplary embodiment, the program module is an application thatcan be used to retrofit an older cellular telephone and convert it intoa security device that records video, detects loud noises, detectssmoke-detector and carbon-monoxide alarms using the microphones, etc.For example, a user may use the application on their current cellulartelephone in the viewing mode, and may use the application on theirolder cellular telephone in the monitoring mode (i.e., as a surveillancetelephone). Moreover, updates to the older cellular telephone may nolonger be supported by the manufacturer. Therefore, the older cellulartelephone may be at end of life or at the end of a support contract, andthis may not be able to upgrade to the latest version of the operatingsystem. While such as older cellular telephone may not have the latestfeatures or capabilities, it may retain limited functionality that canbe harnessed or used by the application.

The user may select the monitoring mode and the various monitoringtechniques (such as acoustic monitoring, video, etc.) on the oldercellular telephone, and may specify communication to a cloud-basedstorage device and/or the user's current cellular telephone. Then, theuser may mount the older cellular telephone in a window (such as usingtwo-sided tape, a suction-cup mount, a magnetic mount, etc.). One camerain the older cellular telephone may face out towards the street andanother camera in the older cellular telephone may face inside of thehome. Images acquired using the outward facing camera may be shared withthe public or a subset of all users (e.g., the other houses in theneighborhood). However, if a camera is facing inside of the house, thegarage, or the backyard, a user may choose not to share those imageswith the public.

Note that the direction that a camera is facing can be determined usinga compass. Moreover, the location of the older cellular telephone may bedetermined using GPS and/or a local positioning system (such as apositioning system associated with a wireless local area network). Thelocation and the direction of a camera can be used specify a portion ofa ‘live street view’ or a ‘live neighborhood watch.’ In turn, otherusers can use the location and the direction to identify content thataugments or fills in holes in their ‘map’ of the neighborhood, and thuscan be used to determine associations or pairings that would bebeneficial to these users, so that they can request to associate or pairwith these monitoring electronic devices.

As noted previously, in some embodiments the environmental monitoring isfacilitated by: placing the older cellular telephone on a rotatablebase; adding a fisheye (or wide-angle) lens over the built-in camera;and plugging the older cellular telephone into its charger. Note thatthe rotatable base may have a Bluetooth-controlled motor that allows theapplication and/or the user (e.g., remotely via their current cellulartelephone) to pivot the older cellular telephone for additional viewingangles. For example, the rotatable based may facilitate amotion-detection sweep. In particular, when motion is detected, a motorin the rotatable base may swivel the older cellular telephone to scan orsweep the area one or more times using a spatial pattern (such as a 120°or 360° swivel), which may be specified or defined by the user. Thiscapability may also allow the user to manually control orientation ofthe older cellular telephone from a remote location via their currentcellular telephone.

The monitoring electronic device may provide real-time feeds that canuse machine vision to track: pets, weather, cars, pedestrians, routinesof individuals in a neighborhood (such as when neighbors get home), mailor product delivery, when trash or recycling is picked up, etc.Moreover, the history of these events may be used to classify an eventand/or to determine if the event is unusual. For example, cars thatdrive by without abnormal acoustic sound (such as screeching tires or ablaring radio) may be deemed ‘normal.’ This capability may be used tofilter the content, either locally (such as on the monitoring electronicdevice) and/or remotely (such as on the cloud-based storage system orthe viewing electronic device).

In addition to selectively capturing the images and/or measuring theacoustic information, the older cellular telephone may report poweroutages, Internet outages, etc. Moreover, the older cellular telephonemay communicate with other Bluetooth devices (such as a whistle dogcollar), so that user can be informed if their pet dog or cat hasescaped the range of the older cellular telephone (a so-called ‘dog isout’ alert).

In some embodiments, the content is stored on a cloud-based storagedevice, such as a server. For example, the content may be stored: on aper-event basis (which may allow users to pay for the storage service asthey go), differentially (relative to previously stored content), duringa time interval and/or continuously. Note that the content may be storedon the cloud-based storage device with user approval. Moreover, thecontent may be captured collaboratively (such as based on an alert fromthe police about possible criminal activity in a neighborhood) and/orthe content may be reviewed collaboratively by a group of users that hasshared access to the content to identify a subset of the content that isof interest. Alternatively or additionally, the content may becommunicated from a monitoring electronic device to a viewing electronicdevice using email, a Short Message Service, etc. This may allow themonitoring electronic device to send pictures or video summaries (e.g.,low-framerate video, low-resolution video, animation, photographs, etc.)to the viewing electronic device.

As noted previously, in addition to sharing content among associated orpaired electronic devices, at least some of the content may be sharedpublically, such as with neighbors or with other interested parties.This may facilitate public views, such as of a beach, at a mountain,weather monitoring, etc. In this way, this subset of the content may beaccessible and may be promoted in the application (e.g., conditionsnearby, view all public monitoring electronic devices, etc.).

FIG. 7 presents a flow diagram illustrating a method 700 forfacilitating environmental monitoring in FIG. 1, which may be performedby an electronic device (such as one of monitoring electronic devices110 in FIG. 1). During operation, the electronic device determineswhether a power supply in the electronic device provides power from anexternal power source or an internal power source (such as a battery)(operation 710). When the power supply provides power from the externalpower source (operation 710), the electronic device remains in amonitoring mode (operation 712) without transitioning to a power-savingmode when the electronic device is inactive. In the monitoring mode, theelectronic device at least selectively captures images and measuresacoustic information corresponding to sound (operation 214) in anenvironment that includes the electronic device, and communicates theimages and the acoustic information to a second electronic device(operation 216) (such as a paired or associated viewing electronicdevice or a storage electronic device). For example, the electronicdevice may remain in the monitoring mode without transitioning to thepower-saving mode by disabling a timer in the electronic device that isused to transition the electronic device to the power-saving mode.(Alternatively or additionally, when the power supply provides powerfrom the external power source, the electronic device may remain in themonitoring mode without transitioning to the power-saving mode byproviding an activity signal that keeps the electronic device in themonitoring mode without transitioning to the power-saving mode when theelectronic device is inactive.)

Furthermore, when the power supply provides power from the internalpower source (operation 710), the electronic device selectively providesthe activity signal (operation 714) that keeps the electronic device inthe monitoring mode without transitioning to the power-saving mode whenthe electronic device is inactive. For example, the activity signal maybe provided periodically, after a time interval (such as 1-5 min) and/oras needed. (Alternatively or additionally, when the power supplyprovides power from the internal power source, the electronic device mayremain in the monitoring mode without transitioning to the power-savingmode by disabling the timer in the electronic device that is used totransition the electronic device to the power-saving mode.)

In some embodiments, when the power supply provides power from theinternal power source (operation 710), the electronic device mayoptionally perform one or more additional operations (operation 716).For example, the electronic device may selectively allow, based on aconfiguration setting, the electronic device to transition to thepower-saving mode when the electronic device is inactive and totransition back to the monitoring mode when the acoustic event occurs.This capability may allow the electronic device to transition to thepower-saving mode during a power outage to conserve the internal powersource. In particular, the electronic device may transition to thepower-saving mode for image capture, but may maintain acousticmonitoring in an active mode so that acoustic events can still bedetected and used to gate transitioning image capture back to the activemode so that images can be selectively captured.

Note that the electronic device may receive a proof-of-life request(operation 718) from the second electronic device and may provide aresponse (operation 720) to the proof-of-life request. The response mayindicate that the electronic device remains in the monitoring mode andhas power.

FIG. 8 presents a drawing illustrating communication among monitoringelectronic device 110-1 and viewing electronic device 112-1. Inparticular, processor 322 executing an instance of a program module inmonitoring mode may disable or restrict functions of monitoringelectronic device 110-1. For example, when power supply 810 receivespower from an external power source, power supply 810 may provideinformation 812 specifying this to processor 322. In response, processor322 may disable 814 a timer 816 that is used to transition monitoringelectronic device 110-1 to the power-saving mode when monitoringelectronic device 110-1 is inactive. Alternatively, when power supply810 receives power from internal power source 818 (such as a battery),power supply 810 may provide information 820 specifying this toprocessor 322. In response, processor 322 may one or more provideactivity signals 822 that keep monitoring electronic device 110-1 in themonitoring mode without transitioning to the power-saving mode whenmonitoring electronic device 110-1 is inactive.

Subsequently, sensor(s) 334 in monitoring electronic device 110-1 maycapture content 336 (such as one or more images and/or audio informationcorresponding to sound). For example, content 336 may be captured whenan event occurs, such as a loud sound or motion is detected.Alternatively or additionally, content 336 may be captured based on analert or a notification received from a third party, such as aninsurance carrier or a governmental organization. Sensor(s) 334 mayprovide content 336 to processor 322, which provides it to interfacecircuit 338. Then, interface circuit 338 may communicate content 336 tointerface circuit 340, which provides it to processor 310. Next,processor 310 may present content 336 on display 318 and/or speakers(not shown).

In these ways, the environmental monitoring technique may allowelectronic devices (including legacy electronic devices) to providecontinuous monitoring of the environment without transitioning to thepower-saving mode. This may allow users to find new uses for oldermodels of electronic devices and to obtain credit (for example, frominsurance carriers) for the monitoring. Consequently, the improvedfunctionality and services facilitated by the environmental monitoringtechnique may increase the use of the electronic devices (and, moregenerally, commercial activity) and may enhance customer satisfactionwith the electronic device.

In an exemplary embodiment, an electronic device avoids transitioning toa power-saving mode even when the electronic device is inactive bydisabling an idle timer and/or by providing activity signals (such asafter a time interval, periodically, etc.). This capability may preventthe electronic device from going to sleep when it is publishing content(i.e., it is a monitoring electronic device) or subscribing or accessingcontent (i.e., it is a viewing electronic device). In some embodiments,the disabling of the idle timer or the providing of the activity signalsmay be restricted to these operations, because otherwise the battery orthe internal power source in the electronic device may be drained tooquickly.

Table 1 presents pseudo-code for use with an electronic device that usesan iOS operating system (from Apple, Inc., Cupertino, Calif.), and Table2 presents pseudo-code for use with an electronic device that uses anAndroid operating system (from Alphabet, Inc., Mountain View, Calif.).

TABLE 1 / In order to stop the app from going to sleep: [UIApplicationsharedApplication].idleTimerDisabled = YES; / This will disable the idletimer and stop the electronic device from automatically going into sleepmode. / In order to re-allow the phone to go into sleep mode use thefollowing: [UIApplication sharedApplication].idleTimerDisabled = NO; /This will re-enable the idle timer and the phone can go back to sleep /In order to disable stand-by mode: [[UIApplication sharedApplication]setIdleTimerDisabled:YES]; /In order to enable stand-by mode:[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setIdleTimerDisabled:NO];

TABLE 2 / Wake_Lock provides the ability for an application to controlthe power state of the electronic device. In order to utilize theWake_Lock capabilities the Wake_Lock permission must be added to themanifest file of the application: <uses-permissionandroid:name=“android.permission.WAKE_LOCK” /> / In order toremove/release the Wake_Lock capability: wakelock.release( ). / In orderto keep the screen on: getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON); / In orderto allow the screen to turn off again: getWindow().clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON);

In some embodiments, when the application is turned on, standby mode isdisabled so the monitoring electronic device does not lock and sleepmode is disabled so the screen or display does not turn off. (Note that,because sleep mode can disable the application functionality until theelectronic device is awakened or unlocked, it may be useful to disablesleep mode or automatic locking modes on the electronic device.) Then,while the application is running or executing, if the monitoringelectronic device is unplugged from an external power source, the screenmay be dimmed to the lowest possible setting to conserve power and/orthe sleep mode may be re-enabled.

Moreover, when the application is turned on and running or executing, aseries of subroutines may execute. In particular, if no motion isdetected for a period of time, a face-recognition technique does notidentify anyone for a second period of time and/or the monitoringelectronic device is unplugged from an external power source, then thescreen may be dimmed to the lowest possible setting to conserve powerand/or the sleep mode may be re-enabled. Alternatively or additionally,if video conferencing between paired electronic devices has concluded,then the screen may be dimmed to the lowest possible setting to conservepower and/or the sleep mode may be re-enabled. Furthermore, if a soundis detected in the environment or video conferencing between pairedelectronic devices has begun, the screen may be turned on, sleep modemay be disabled, and/or standby mode may be disabled.

Additionally, when the application is running, if no motion is detected,no action may be taken. However, if motion is detected, aface-recognition technique may be used to determine if a familiar orknown face is detected. If yes, the user of the viewing electronicdevice may be notified about who has entered the environment.Alternatively, if a familiar face is not detected, the user of theviewing electronic device may be notified that motion was detected inthe environment. Moreover, the monitoring electronic device may bepanned or scanned from an initial position over a counterclockwise arcof 180°, and then may be panned or scanned from the initial positionover a clockwise arc of 180°. Afterwards, the monitoring electronicdevice may be restored to the initial position. Furthermore, thecaptured video may be saved or stored on the monitoring electronicdevice, and then may be communicated to the user of the viewingelectronic device (e.g., using email).

Note that for monitoring electronic devices that support simultaneousvideo capture from the front and back cameras, the application maystream both videos concurrently if the user selects both as inputs.Alternatively, if motion is detected using one of the cameras, streamingvideo from both cameras may be enabled. This feature may be used whenthe monitoring electronic device is placed in a dock and/or when thedock pans or scans the camera(s) by rotating about an axis.

However, for monitoring electronic devices that do not supportsimultaneous video capture from the front and back cameras, amultiplexing technique (or one or more in a set of multiplexingtechniques) may be used. For example, every other frame of video may becaptured with a particular camera (such as a first frame from the frontcamera, then a second frame from the back camera, etc.). Alternatively,every N frames of video may be captured with a particular camera (suchas ten frames from the front camera, then ten frames from the backcamera, etc.). In some embodiments, M frames of video may be capturedwith one camera, and the N frames of video may be captured with theother camera, where M is less than N. Thus, five frames may be capturedfrom the front camera, then ten frames may be captured from the backcamera, etc. This multiplexing technique may be useful when one camerahas a higher frame rate than the other (in which case, the higherframe-rate camera may be used to capture the M frames).

FIG. 9 presents a flow diagram illustrating a method 900 forfacilitating environmental monitoring in FIG. 1, which may be performedby a controller electronic device (such as controller electronic device118 in FIG. 1). During operation, the controller electronic devicereceives messages (operation 912) that include timestamps and currentlocations of a monitoring electronic device. For example, monitoringelectronic device may periodically or after a time interval transmit themessages (which function as beacons).

Then, the controller electronic device associates a viewing electronicdevice (which is paired with or associated with the monitoringelectronic device) with a subset of second monitoring electronic devices(operation 916) based on a duration of time that the monitoringelectronic device is approximately at a fixed location (such as within1-100 m of a previous location for at least 1-72 hours). Note that asize of the subset increases as the duration of time increases, and theassociations allow the viewing electronic device to selectively accesscontent, including acoustic information and images for secondenvironments that include the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices, from the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices.For example, the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices maybe located within a distance from the fixed location, and the distancemay increase as the duration of time increases. Thus, after a day, theelectronic device may be associated with the subset of the secondmonitoring electronic devices those that are within 50 m, after twodays, the electronic device may be associated with the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices that are within 100 m, etc.Alternatively or additionally, the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices may be located within an adjacency value from thefixed location (such as nearest neighbors, next-nearest neighbors,etc.), and the adjacency value may increase as the duration of timeincreases.

In some embodiments, the controller electronic device optionallyreceives credentials (such as a username, a password and/or anidentifier) (operation 910) from the viewing electronic device and thesubset of the second monitoring electronic devices, and associating theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices (operation 916) may involve providing the credentialsto the viewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices. Additionally, the controller electronic device mayoptionally receive encryption keys (operation 910) from the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices, and associating the viewing electronic device and the subset ofthe second monitoring electronic devices (operation 916) may involveproviding the encryption keys to the viewing electronic device and thesubset of the second monitoring electronic devices. In some embodiments,the controller electronic device optionally generates the encryptionkeys (operation 914) for the viewing electronic device and the subset ofthe second monitoring electronic devices, and associating the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices (operation 916) may involve providing the encryption keys to theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices. Note that, in general, the credentials and theencryption keys may be used by viewing electronic devices to selectivelyaccess content, such as from a monitoring electronic device and/or froma cloud-based storage device.

Moreover, the controller electronic device may optionally associate themonitoring electronic device with a second viewing electronic device(operation 918) that is associated with one of the second monitoringelectronic devices. The association between the monitoring electronicdevice with the second viewing electronic device may allow the secondviewing electronic device to selectively access content, includingimages and acoustic information corresponding to sound, for theenvironment. Furthermore, the controller electronic device mayoptionally receive credentials (operation 910) from the monitoringelectronic device and the second viewing electronic device, andassociating the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device (operation 918) may involve providing the credentialsto the monitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronicdevice. Additionally, the controller electronic device may optionallyreceive encryption keys (operation 910) from the monitoring electronicdevice and the second viewing electronic device, and associating themonitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronic device(operation 918) may involve providing the encryption keys to themonitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronic device.In some embodiments, the controller electronic device optionallygenerates the encryption keys (operation 914) for the monitoringelectronic device and the second viewing electronic devices, andassociating the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device involves providing the encryption keys (operation 918)to the monitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronicdevice.

Furthermore, when a difference between a current location of themonitoring electronic device and the fixed location exceeds a predefinedvalue (operation 920), the controller electronic device removes theassociations (operation 922).

By receiving the messages and associating the viewing electronic devicewith the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices, thecontroller electronic device may establish selective access to thecontent when the viewing electronic device is outside of communicationrange with the subset of the monitoring electronic devices. For example,this association technique may allow the viewing electronic device toselectively access content even when the viewing electronic device isoutside of direct, wireless communication range with the subset of themonitoring electronic devices.

FIG. 10 presents a drawing illustrating communication among monitoringelectronic device 110-1, monitoring electronic devices 1010, viewingelectronic device 112-1 and controller electronic device 118. Inparticular, a user of viewing electronic device 112-1 may set up ordefine an association 1012 (or pairing) in controller electronic device118 between monitoring electronic device 110-1 and viewing electronicdevice 112-1. Note that controller electronic device 118 may confirm theassociation based on a predefined list of electronic devices associatedwith or used by the user. When the association is defined, credentials1014 and/or encryption keys 1016 may be exchanged between controllerelectronic device 118, monitoring electronic device 110-1 and viewingelectronic device 112-1. In some embodiments, controller electronicdevice 118 generates encryption keys 1016.

Subsequently, monitoring electronic device 110-1 may provide messages1018 with timestamps and locations of monitoring electronic device110-1. If controller electronic device 118 determines 1020 thatmonitoring electronic device 110-1 has remained at location for a timeinterval, controller electronic device 118 may define associations 1022between viewing electronic device 112-1 and a subset of monitoringelectronic devices 1010 (which are at locations other than thelocation). This may optionally include providing messages to viewingelectronic device 112-1 and the subset of monitoring electronic devices1010 informing these electronic devices of the association or pairing.When the associations are defined, credentials 1014 and/or encryptionkeys 1016 may be exchanged between controller electronic device 118, thesubset of monitoring electronic devices 1010 and viewing electronicdevice 112-1. Moreover, as the time interval monitoring electronicdevice 110-1 remains at the location increases, the spatial extent ofthe subset of monitoring electronic devices 1010 may increase.

In this way, over time viewing electronic device 112-1 may be able toselectively access content (such as images and/or audio information)from an ever increasing number of monitoring electronic devices havingan ever increasing spatial extent. However, if controller electronicdevice 118 determines that monitoring electronic device 110-1 is nolonger at location 1020, controller electronic device 118 maydiscontinue 1020 associations 1022 between viewing electronic device112-1 and the subset of monitoring electronic devices 1010 (but theassociation between monitoring electronic device 110-1 and viewingelectronic device 112-1 may be maintained).

The dynamic associations are shown in FIG. 11, which presents a drawingillustrating association of viewing electronic device 112-1 andmonitoring electronic devices 1010 as a function of time. In particular,if monitoring electronic device 110-1 remains at location 1110 for timeinterval 1112-1, viewing electronic device 112-1 may be associated withmonitoring electronic devices 1010-1 and 1010-2. For example, ifmonitoring electronic device 110-1 remains within 10 m of location 1110for 12 hours, viewing electronic device 112-1 may be associated withmonitoring electronic devices 1010-1 and 1010-2 (which are within 50 mof location 1110). Alternatively, after 12 hours the associations mayinclude nearest neighbors of monitoring electronic device 110-1, andafter the associations may include nearest neighbors and next-nearestneighbors of monitoring electronic device 110-1.

Then, if monitoring electronic device 110-1 remains at location 1110 fortime interval 1112-2, viewing electronic device 112-1 may be associatedwith monitoring electronic devices 1010-1, 1010-2, 1010-3 and 1010-4.For example, if monitoring electronic device 110-1 remains within 10 mof location 1110 for 24 hours, viewing electronic device 112-1 may beassociated with monitoring electronic devices 1010-1 and 1010-2 (whichare within 50 m of location 1110) and monitoring electronic devices1010-3 and 1010-4 (which are within 50 m of location 1110).

Thus, the size of the subset may increase as the duration of the timeinterval increases, and the associations may allow viewing electronicdevice 112-1 to selectively access content from the subset of monitoringelectronic devices 1010 (including acoustic information corresponding tosound and images for environments that include the subset of monitoringelectronic devices 1010). Consequently, the longer a cellular telephoneexecuting the program module in the monitoring mode is at a particularlocation and active, the wider the information network that is sharedwith the user of this cellular telephone. In an exemplary embodiment,after a day the user can selectively access content from theirneighbors, after a week the user can selectively access content fromtheir entire neighborhood, and after a year the user can selectivelyaccess content from their entire town. Furthermore, when the cellulartelephone is moved (such as more than 1-100 m), the associations mayreset.

This dynamic-association feature may prevent or make it more difficultfor someone briefly visiting a neighborhood in an attempt to establishassociations or pairings for illicit purposes. Instead, a user may berewarded with an ever-expanded information network based on stability ofthe geolocation of their monitoring electronic device and/or theirviewing electronic device. Moreover, by using one or more controllerelectronic devices to facilitate the dynamic associations, thisassociation technique may provide a low-friction (i.e., low user effort)approach for building an information network for a user, and such alow-friction approach can make it easier for a user to use and enjoy theinformation network.

FIG. 12 presents a flow diagram illustrating a method 1200 forfacilitating environmental monitoring in FIG. 1, which may be performedby an electronic device (such as one of viewing electronic devices 112in FIG. 1). During operation, the electronic device (which may executean instance of a program module in a viewing mode, and thus may bereferred to as a ‘viewing electronic device’) receives messages(operation 1210) from a second electronic device executing anotherinstance of the program module. These messages advertise availability ofcontent for an environment at a location associated with the secondelectronic device (e.g., the messages may indicate that the secondelectronic device is executing the other instance of the programmodule), and the content includes images of the environment and acousticinformation corresponding to sound in the environment. For example, theenvironment may include the second electronic device and the secondelectronic device may execute the instance of the program module in amonitoring mode (and thus may be referred to as a ‘monitoring electronicdevice’) to collect the content. Alternatively, the second electronicdevice may execute an instance of the program module in the viewing modeand the content may be collected by a monitoring electronic device atthe location that executes an instance of the program module in themonitoring mode, and which is paired or associated with the secondelectronic device.

Then, the electronic device determines whether to request shared accessto the content (operation 1212) based on the location and locations ofone or more monitoring electronic devices executing additional instancesof the program module in a monitoring mode for which the electronicdevice already has shared access. For example, the location may bedifferent than any of the locations. Moreover, the determination may bebased on a history of locations of the electronic device. In particular,the history of the locations may indicate that the electronic device wasproximate to the location for more than: a predefined number ofoccasions (such as at least 2-10 times); and/or a predefined timeduration (such as at least 5-60 min).

Next, the electronic device provides, to the second electronic device, arequest for shared access (operation 1214) based on the determination.Furthermore, the electronic device receives an acceptance message(operation 1216) from the second electronic device in response to therequest, and the electronic device selectively accesses the content(operation 1218) based on the acceptance message. For example, theacceptance message may include credentials and/or an encryption key thatfacilitate the selective access.

In some embodiments, the electronic device optionally performs one ormore additional operations (operation 1220). For example, while in theviewing mode, the electronic device may selectively access secondcontent for a second environment at one of the locations that iscollected by a monitoring electronic device executing an instance of theprogram module in the monitoring mode and that is associated or pairedwith the electronic device. Note that the second content may includeimages of the second environment and acoustic information correspondingto sound in the second environment. Moreover, the electronic device mayprovide, to the second electronic device, access to the second contentin response to the acceptance message. Note that providing access to thesecond content may involve providing, to the second electronic device,credentials and/or an encryption key that facilitate the selectiveaccess.

By providing the request and receiving the acceptance message, theelectronic device may establish selective access to the content when theelectronic device is outside of communication range with the monitoringelectronic device at the location. For example, the electronic devicemay establish selective access to the content when the electronic deviceis outside of direct, wireless communication range with the monitoringelectronic device at the location. Moreover, the instances of theprogram module executed by the electronic device and the secondelectronic device may help authenticate or facilitate recognition ofsuitable electronic devices with which to associate.

In some embodiments of methods 200 (FIG. 2), 700 (FIG. 7), 900 (FIG. 9)and/or 1200 (FIG. 12) there may be additional or fewer operations.Moreover, the order of the operations may be changed, and/or two or moreoperations may be combined into a single operation.

FIG. 13 presents a drawing illustrating communication among viewingelectronic device 110-1 and monitoring electronic device 110-2. Inparticular, viewing electronic device 110-1 may receive one or moremessages 1310 from monitoring electronic device 110-2. These messagesmay advertise the availability of content 1318 for an environment at alocation associated with monitoring electronic device 110-2. Inresponse, viewing electronic device 110-1 may determine 1312 whether torequest shared access to content 1318.

Based on determination 1312, viewing electronic device 110-1 may request1314 shared access to content 1318. In response, monitoring electronicdevice 110-2 may provide an acceptance message 1316. This acceptancemessage may include credentials and/or an encryption key thatfacilitates the shared access to content 1318. Next, viewing electronicdevice 110-1 may selectively access content 1318.

In this way, viewing electronic device 112-1 may be able to selectivelyaccess content (such as images and/or audio information) from monitoringelectronic devices that are of interest to a user of viewing electronicdevice 112-1, e.g., based on the history of locations of viewingelectronic device 112-1 and, in particular, how often and how longviewing electronic device 112-1 is at or proximate to the location ofmonitoring electronic device 110-2.

This association technique is further shown in FIG. 14, which presents adrawing illustrating requesting shared access to content between viewingelectronic device 110-1 and monitoring electronic device 110-2. Inparticular, history of locations 1410 of viewing electronic device 110-1as a function of time 1412 shows that viewing electronic device 110-1repeatedly visits location 1414 of monitoring electronic device 110-2and that the duration or sum of time intervals 1416 during which viewingelectronic device 110-1 is proximate to location 1414 exceeds apredefined value. For example, viewing electronic device 110-1 may be ator proximate to location 1414 at least 2-10 times and/or may have apredefined time duration at or proximate to location 1414 of at least5-60 min. When either or both of these criteria are achieved, viewingelectronic device 110-1 may request to associate or pair with monitoringelectronic device 110-2 so that it can selectively access the content.This approach may help ensure that there are only associations that areof interest to the user of viewing electronic device 110-1. It may alsoallow the user to auto-complete an emergency list or a contact listbased on their activities (such as the locations they visit), which mayindicate the individuals that are most important to them.

We now describe embodiments of an electronic device. FIG. 15 presents ablock diagram illustrating an electronic device 1500, such as one ofmonitoring electronic devices 110, one of viewing electronic devices112, optional access point 114, optional storage electronic device 116or controller electronic device 118 in FIG. 1. (In the discussion thatfollows, the functionality of one of monitoring electronic devices 110or one of viewing electronic devices 112 is used as an illustration.Other electronic devices, such as controller electronic device 118, mayhave a subset of this functionality.) This electronic device includesprocessing subsystem 1510 (and, more generally, an integrated circuit ora control mechanism), memory subsystem 1512, networking subsystem 1514,power subsystem 1516, optional sensor subsystem 1520 (i.e., adata-collection subsystem and, more generally, a sensor mechanism) andoptional sensory-output subsystem 1534. Processing subsystem 1510includes one or more devices configured to perform computationaloperations (such as executing techniques to process captured images,measured acoustic information and, more generally, sensor data). Forexample, processing subsystem 1510 can include one or moremicroprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs),microcontrollers, programmable-logic devices, and/or one or more digitalsignal processors (DSPs).

Memory subsystem 1512 includes one or more devices for storing dataand/or instructions for processing subsystem 1510, networking subsystem1514 and/or optional sensor subsystem 1520. For example, memorysubsystem 1512 can include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), staticrandom access memory (SRAM), and/or other types of memory. In someembodiments, instructions for processing subsystem 1510 in memorysubsystem 1512 include: one or more program modules or sets ofinstructions (such as one or more program modules 1528), which may beexecuted in an operating environment (such as operating system 1530) byprocessing subsystem 1510. While the one or more program modules 1528executed by processing subsystem 1510 may be resident on electronicdevice 1500 (such as stand-alone applications or portions of one or moreother applications that are resident on and which execute on electronicdevice 1500), in some embodiments a given one of the one or more programmodules 1528 may be embedded in a web page that is provided by a remoteserver or computer via a network, and which is rendered by a web browseron electronic device 1500. For example, at least a portion of the givenprogram module may be an application tool that is embedded in the webpage, and which executes in a virtual environment of the web browser.Thus, the application tool may be provided to electronic device 1500 viaa client-server architecture. Note that the one or more computerprograms may constitute a computer-program mechanism. Moreover,instructions in the various modules in memory subsystem 1512 may beimplemented in: a high-level procedural language, an object-orientedprogramming language, and/or in an assembly or machine language.Furthermore, the programming language may be compiled or interpreted,e.g., configurable or configured (which may be used interchangeably inthis discussion), to be executed by processing subsystem 1510.

In addition, memory subsystem 1512 can include mechanisms forcontrolling access to the memory. In some embodiments, memory subsystem1512 includes a memory hierarchy that comprises one or more cachescoupled to a memory in electronic device 1500. In some of theseembodiments, one or more of the caches is located in processingsubsystem 1510.

In some embodiments, memory subsystem 1512 is coupled to one or morehigh-capacity mass-storage devices (not shown). For example, memorysubsystem 1512 can be coupled to a magnetic or optical drive, asolid-state drive, or another type of mass-storage device. In theseembodiments, memory subsystem 1512 can be used by electronic device 1500as fast-access storage for often-used data, while the mass-storagedevice is used to store less frequently used data.

Networking subsystem 1514 includes one or more devices configured tocouple to and communicate on a wired and/or wireless network (i.e., toperform network operations and, more generally, communication),including: interface circuit 1524 and one or more associated antennas1526. (While FIG. 15 includes one or more antennas 1526, in someembodiments electronic device 1500 includes one or more nodes oninterface circuit 1524, e.g., pads, which can be coupled to one or moreantennas 1526. Thus, electronic device 1500 may or may not include oneor more antennas 1526.) For example, networking subsystem 1514 caninclude: a ZigBee® networking subsystem, a Bluetooth networking system(such as Bluetooth Low Energy), a cellular networking system (e.g., a3G/4G network such as UMTS, LTE, etc.), a universal serial bus (USB)networking system, a networking system based on the standards describedin IEEE 802.11 (e.g., a Wi-Fi networking system), an Ethernet networkingsystem, an infra-red communication system, a power-line communicationsystem and/or another communication system (such as anear-field-communication system or an ad-hoc-network networking system).Note that the combination of interface circuit 1524 and at least one ofone or more antennas 1526 may constitute a radio.

Moreover, networking subsystem 1514 includes processors, controllers,radios/antennas, sockets/plugs, and/or other devices used for couplingto, communicating on, and handling data and events for each supportednetworking system. Note that mechanisms used for coupling to,communicating on, and handling data and events on the network for eachnetwork system are sometimes collectively referred to as a ‘networkinterface’ for the network system. In some embodiments, a ‘network’between the electronic devices does not yet exist. Therefore, electronicdevice 1500 may use the mechanisms in networking subsystem 1514 forperforming simple wireless communication between the electronic devices,e.g., transmitting advertising or beacon frames and/or scanning foradvertising frames transmitted by other electronic devices.

Furthermore, electronic device 1500 may include power subsystem 1516with one or more power sources 1518. Each of these power sources mayinclude: a battery (such as a rechargeable or a non-rechargeablebattery), a DC power supply, a transformer, and/or a switched-mode powersupply. Moreover, the one or more power sources 1518 may operate in avoltage-limited mode or a current-limited mode. Furthermore, these powersources may be mechanically and electrically coupled by a male or femaleadaptor to: a wall or electrical-outlet socket or plug (such as a two orthree-pronged electrical-outlet plug, which may be collapsible orretractable), a light socket (or light-bulb socket), electrical wiring(such as a multi-wire electrical terminal), a generator, a USB port orconnector, a DC-power plug or socket, a cellular-telephone chargercable, a photodiode, a photovoltaic cell, etc. This mechanical andelectrical coupling may be rigid or may be remateable. Note that the oneor more power sources 1518 may be mechanically and electrically coupledto an external power source or another electronic device.

Additionally, optional sensor subsystem 1520 may include one or moresensor devices 1522 (or a sensor array), which may include one or moreprocessors and memory. For example, the one or more sensor devices 1522may include: a thermal sensor (such as a thermometer), a humiditysensor, a barometer, a camera or video recorder (such as a CCD or CMOSimaging sensor), a flash or an optical or infra-red light source, one ormore microphones or acoustic transducers (which may be able to recordsound, including acoustic information in a band of frequencies, in monoor stereo), a load-monitoring sensor or an electrical-characteristicdetector (and, more generally, a sensor that monitors one or moreelectrical characteristics), an infrared sensor (which may be active orpassive), a microscope, a particle detector (such as a detector ofdander, pollen, dust, exhaust, etc.), an air-quality sensor, a particlesensor, an optical particle sensor, an ionization particle sensor, asmoke detector (such as an optical smoke detector or an ionizing smokedetector), a fire-detection sensor, a radon detector, a carbon-monoxidedetector, a chemical sensor or detector, a volatile-organic-compoundsensor, a combustible gas sensor, a chemical-analysis device, a massspectrometer, a microanalysis device, a nano-plasmonic sensor, a geneticsensor (such as a micro-array), an accelerometer, a position or alocation sensor (such as a location sensor based on GPS), a gyroscope, amotion sensor (such as a light-beam sensor), a contact sensor, a strainsensor (such as a strain gauge), a proximity sensor, a microwave/radarsensor (which may be active or passive), an ultrasound sensor, avibration sensor, a fluid flow sensor, a photo-detector, a Geigercounter, a radio-frequency radiation detector, and/or another devicethat measures a physical effect or that characterizes an environmentalfactor or physical phenomenon (either directly or indirectly). Note thatthe one or more sensor devices 1522 may include redundancy (such asmultiple instances of a type of sensor device) to address sensor failureor erroneous readings, to provide improved accuracy and/or to provideimproved precision.

Moreover, optional sensory-output subsystem 1534 may include one or moreoutput devices 1536, such as a display and/or one or more speakers (oracoustic transducers). One or more output devices 1536 may be used todisplay images and/or to output sound.

During operation of electronic device 1500, processing subsystem 1510may execute one or more program modules 1528, such as anenvironmental-monitoring application to perform the environmentalmonitoring technique and/or the association technique. For example, theone or more program modules 1528 may use one or more sensor devices 1522to monitor one or more environmental conditions in an environment thatincludes electronic device 1500. The resulting sensor data (or content)may be shared with one or more other electronic devices (such as anotherelectronic device executing instances of the one or more program modules1528) via networking subsystem 2014.

Within electronic device 1500, processing subsystem 1510, memorysubsystem 1512, networking subsystem 1514, power subsystem 1516,optional sensor subsystem 1520 and/or optional sensory-output subsystem1534 may be coupled using one or more interconnects, such as bus 1532.These interconnects may include an electrical, optical, and/orelectro-optical connection that the subsystems can use to communicatecommands and data among one another. Although only one bus 1532 is shownfor clarity, different embodiments can include a different number orconfiguration of electrical, optical, and/or electro-optical connectionsamong the subsystems.

Electronic device 1500 can be (or can be included in) a wide variety ofelectronic devices, such as an electronic device with at least onenetwork interface. For example, electronic device 1500 can be (or can beincluded in): a sensor (such as a smart sensor), a tablet computer, asmartphone or a cellular telephone, an appliance, a regulator device, aconsumer-electronic device (such as a baby monitor), a portablecomputing device, an access point, a router, a switch, communicationequipment, test equipment, a digital signal processor, a controller, apersonal digital assistant, a laser printer (or other office equipmentsuch as a photocopier), a personal organizer, a toy, a set-top box, acomputing device (such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, aserver, and/or a subnotebook/netbook), a light (such as a nightlight), aspace heater, an alarm, a smoke detector, a carbon-monoxide detector, anenvironmental monitoring device (which monitors an environmentalcondition in the environment that includes electronic device 1500),and/or another electronic device.

Although specific components are used to describe electronic device1500, in alternative embodiments, different components and/or subsystemsmay be present in electronic device 1500. For example, electronic device1500 may include one or more additional processing subsystems, memorysubsystems, networking subsystems, power subsystems, sensor subsystemsand/or sensory-output subsystems. Moreover, one or more of thesubsystems may not be present in electronic device 1500. Furthermore, insome embodiments, electronic device 1500 may include one or moreadditional subsystems that are not shown in FIG. 15 such as auser-interface subsystem, a display subsystem, and/or a feedbacksubsystem (which may include speakers and/or an optical source).

Although separate subsystems are shown in FIG. 15, in some embodiments,some or all of a given subsystem or component can be integrated into oneor more of the other subsystems or component(s) in electronic device1500. For example, in some embodiments program module 1528 is includedin operating system 1530. In some embodiments, a component in a givensubsystem is included in a different subsystem.

Moreover, the circuits and components in electronic device 1500 may beimplemented using any combination of analog and/or digital circuitry,including: bipolar, PMOS and/or NMOS gates or transistors. Furthermore,signals in these embodiments may include digital signals that haveapproximately discrete values and/or analog signals that have continuousvalues. Additionally, components and circuits may be single-ended ordifferential, and power supplies may be unipolar or bipolar.

An integrated circuit may implement some or all of the functionality ofnetworking subsystem 1514, such as one or more radios. Moreover, theintegrated circuit may include hardware and/or software mechanisms thatare used for transmitting wireless signals from electronic device 1500and receiving signals at electronic device 1500 from other electronicdevices. Aside from the mechanisms herein described, radios aregenerally known in the art and hence are not described in detail. Ingeneral, networking subsystem 1514 and/or the integrated circuit caninclude any number of radios. Note that the radios in multiple-radioembodiments function in a similar way to the radios described insingle-radio embodiments.

In some embodiments, networking subsystem 1514 and/or the integratedcircuit include a configuration mechanism (such as one or more hardwareand/or software mechanisms) that configures the radios to transmitand/or receive on a given channel (e.g., at a given carrier frequency).For example, in some embodiments, the configuration mechanism can beused to switch the radio from monitoring and/or transmitting on a givenchannel to monitoring and/or transmitting on a different channel. (Notethat ‘monitoring’ as used herein comprises receiving signals from otherelectronic devices and possibly performing one or more processingoperations on the received signals, e.g., determining if the receivedsignal comprises an advertising frame, calculating a performance metric,etc.)

The described embodiments of the environmental monitoring technique andthe association technique may be used in a variety of networkinterfaces. Furthermore, while some of the operations in the precedingembodiments were implemented in hardware or software, in general theoperations in the preceding embodiments can be implemented in a widevariety of configurations and architectures. Therefore, some or all ofthe operations in the preceding embodiments may be performed inhardware, in software or both. For example, at least some of theoperations in the environmental monitoring technique and the associationtechnique may be implemented using program module 1528, operating system1530 (such as drivers for interface circuit 1524) and/or in firmware ininterface circuit 1524. Alternatively or additionally, at least some ofthe operations in the environmental monitoring technique and theassociation technique may be implemented in a physical layer, such ashardware in interface circuit 1524.

Note that the functions of electronic device 1500 may be distributedover a large number of servers or computers, with various groups of theservers or computers performing particular subsets of the functions.These servers or computers may be at one or more locations. Thus, insome embodiments electronic device 1500 includes a computer system.

In the preceding description, we refer to ‘some embodiments.’ Note that‘some embodiments’ describes a subset of all of the possibleembodiments, but does not always specify the same subset of embodiments.

The foregoing description is intended to enable any person skilled inthe art to make and use the disclosure, and is provided in the contextof a particular application and its requirements. Moreover, theforegoing descriptions of embodiments of the present disclosure havebeen presented for purposes of illustration and description only. Theyare not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure tothe forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations willbe apparent to practitioners skilled in the art, and the generalprinciples defined herein may be applied to other embodiments andapplications without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. Additionally, the discussion of the preceding embodiments isnot intended to limit the present disclosure. Thus, the presentdisclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, butis to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles andfeatures disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A controller electronic device, comprising: aninterface circuit that, during operation, communicates with a viewingelectronic device that operates in a viewing mode, a monitoringelectronic device associated with the viewing electronic device thatoperates in a monitoring mode in an environment, and second monitoringelectronic devices that operate in the monitoring mode in secondenvironments; a processor electrically coupled to the interface circuit;and memory, electrically coupled to the processor, which stores aprogram module that, during operation, is executed by the processor,wherein the program module includes: instructions for receiving messagesthat include timestamps and current locations of the monitoringelectronic device; instructions for associating the viewing electronicdevice with a subset of the second monitoring electronic devices basedon a duration of time that the monitoring electronic device isapproximately at a fixed location, wherein a size of the subsetincreases as the duration of time increases, and wherein theassociations allow the viewing electronic device to selectively accesscontent, including acoustic information corresponding to sound andimages for the second environments, from the subset of the secondmonitoring electronic devices; and instructions for removing theassociations when a difference between a current location of themonitoring electronic device and the fixed location exceeds a predefinedvalue.
 2. The controller electronic device of claim 1, wherein thesubset of the second monitoring electronic devices is located within adistance from the fixed location; and wherein the distance increases asthe duration of time increases.
 3. The controller electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the subset of the second monitoring electronic devicesis located within an adjacency value from the fixed location; andwherein the adjacency value increases as the duration of time increases.4. The controller electronic device of claim 1, wherein the programmodule further comprises instructions for receiving credentials from theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices; and wherein associating the viewing electronicdevice and the subset of the second monitoring electronic devicesinvolves providing the credentials to the viewing electronic device andthe subset of the second monitoring electronic devices.
 5. Thecontroller electronic device of claim 4, wherein the program modulefurther comprises instructions for receiving encryption keys from theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices; and wherein associating the viewing electronicdevice and the subset of the second monitoring electronic devicesinvolves providing the encryption keys to the viewing electronic deviceand the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices.
 6. Thecontroller electronic device of claim 4, wherein the program modulefurther comprises instructions for generating encryption keys for theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices; and wherein associating the viewing electronicdevice and the subset of the second monitoring electronic devicesinvolves providing the encryption keys to the viewing electronic deviceand the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices.
 7. Thecontroller electronic device of claim 1, wherein the program modulefurther comprises instructions for associating the monitoring electronicdevice with a second viewing electronic device that is associated withone of the second monitoring electronic devices; and wherein theassociation between the monitoring electronic device with the secondviewing electronic device allows the second viewing electronic device toselectively access content, including images and acoustic informationcorresponding to sound, for the environment.
 8. The controllerelectronic device of claim 7, wherein the program module furthercomprises instructions for receiving credentials from the monitoringelectronic device and the second viewing electronic device; and whereinassociating the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device involves providing the credentials to the monitoringelectronic device and the second viewing electronic device.
 9. Thecontroller electronic device of claim 8, wherein the program modulefurther comprises instructions for receiving encryption keys from themonitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronic device,and wherein associating the monitoring electronic device and the secondviewing electronic device involves providing the encryption keys to themonitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronic device.10. The controller electronic device of claim 8, wherein the programmodule further comprises instructions for generating encryption keys forthe monitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronicdevice; and wherein associating the monitoring electronic device and thesecond viewing electronic device involves providing the encryption keysto the monitoring electronic device and the second viewing electronicdevice.
 11. The controller electronic device of claim 1, wherein, byreceiving the messages and associating the viewing electronic devicewith the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices, thecontroller electronic device establishes selective access to the contentwhen the viewing electronic device is outside of communication rangewith the subset of the second monitoring electronic devices.
 12. Acomputer-program product for use in conjunction with a controllerelectronic device, the computer-program product comprising anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium and a computer-programmechanism embedded therein to facilitate environmental monitoring, thecomputer-program mechanism including: instructions for receivingmessages that include timestamps and current locations of a monitoringelectronic device that operates in a monitoring mode in an environment,wherein the monitoring electronic device is associated with a viewingelectronic device that operates in a viewing mode; instructions forassociating the viewing electronic device with a subset of secondmonitoring electronic devices that operate in the monitoring mode insecond environments based on a duration of time that the monitoringelectronic device is approximately at a fixed location, wherein a sizeof the subset increases as the duration of time increases, and whereinthe associations allow the viewing electronic device to selectivelyaccess content, including acoustic information corresponding to soundand images for the second environments, from the subset of the secondmonitoring electronic devices; and instructions for removing theassociations when a difference between a current location of themonitoring electronic device and the fixed location exceeds a predefinedvalue.
 13. The computer-program product of claim 12, wherein the subsetof the second monitoring electronic devices are located within adistance from the fixed location; and wherein the distance increases asthe duration of time increases.
 14. The computer-program product ofclaim 12, wherein the subset of the second monitoring electronic devicesare located within an adjacency value from the fixed location; andwherein the adjacency value increases as the duration of time increases.15. The computer-program product of claim 12, wherein thecomputer-program mechanism further comprises instructions for receivingcredentials from the viewing electronic device and the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices; and wherein associating theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices involves providing the credentials to the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices.
 16. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein thecomputer-program mechanism further comprises instructions for receivingencryption keys from the viewing electronic device and the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices; and wherein associating theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices involves providing the encryption keys to the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices.
 17. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein thecomputer-program mechanism further comprises instructions for generatingencryption keys for the viewing electronic device and the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices; and wherein associating theviewing electronic device and the subset of the second monitoringelectronic devices involves providing the encryption keys to the viewingelectronic device and the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices.
 18. The computer-program product of claim 12, wherein thecomputer-program mechanism further comprises instructions forassociating the monitoring electronic device with a second viewingelectronic device that is associated with one of the subset of thesecond monitoring electronic devices; and wherein the associationbetween the monitoring electronic device with the second viewingelectronic device allows the second viewing electronic device toselectively access content, including images and acoustic informationcorresponding to sound, for the environment.
 19. The computer-programproduct of claim 18, wherein the computer-program mechanism furthercomprises instructions for receiving credentials from the monitoringelectronic device and the second viewing electronic device; and whereinassociating the monitoring electronic device and the second viewingelectronic device involves providing the credentials to the monitoringelectronic device and the second viewing electronic device.
 20. Acomputer-system-implemented method for facilitating environmentalmonitoring, wherein the method comprises: receiving messages thatinclude timestamps and current locations of a monitoring electronicdevice that operates in a monitoring mode in an environment, wherein themonitoring electronic device is associated with a viewing electronicdevice that operates in a viewing mode; associating the viewingelectronic device with a subset of second monitoring electronic devicesthat operate in the monitoring mode in second environments based on aduration of time that the monitoring electronic device is approximatelyat a fixed location, wherein a size of the subset increases as theduration of time increases, and wherein the associations allow theviewing electronic device to selectively access content, includingacoustic information corresponding to sound and images for the secondenvironments, from the subset of the second monitoring electronicdevices; and removing the associations when a difference between acurrent location of the monitoring electronic device and the fixedlocation exceeds a predefined value.